Sen. J.D. Vance roamed the major news networks on Sunday, appearing on ABC, CBS and CNN, but Democratic Gov. Tim Walz was nowhere to be seen.
Vance spoke to ABC News’ Jonathan Karl in a lengthy interview, the entire conversation of which aired Sunday, in which he detailed his deportation plans and defended his support for the family vote.
Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign has attacked Vance over past comments he made suggesting parents with children should get extra votes.
“Democrats talk about giving 16-year-olds the right to vote, but let’s do this instead,” Vance said in a speech at a private event. “Let’s give every child in this country the right to vote, but let’s put that voting power in the hands of their parents. When you, as a parent, go to vote in this country, you should have more power.”
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Sen. J.D. Vance (left), Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s running mate, and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate. (Drew Hallowell/Steven Maturen/Getty Images)
Vance said his comments Sunday were a “thought experiment” and not a policy proposal.
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“Do I regret what I said? Frankly, I regret how the media and the Kamala Harris campaign have misrepresented what I said,” he said. “They’re turning this into a policy proposal that I never proposed. … I said that we want to value families more.”
Senator Vance elaborated on former President Donald Trump’s approach to combating illegal immigration, particularly his call for mass deportations. The Ohio senator said a second Trump administration would take a “phased approach” to removing the roughly 20 million illegal immigrants living in the US.
Vance defended his support for families and outlined Trump’s plans to tackle illegal immigration. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
“Let’s start with what’s achievable,” Vance said. “If we deport a lot of the violent criminals and make it harder to hire illegal workers who, frankly, lower wages for American workers, I think we’ll be a lot closer to solving the problem of illegal immigration.”
“I think it’s interesting that people are focusing on, ‘how do we deport 18 million people?’ Let’s start with 1 million. That’s where Kamala Harris failed, and we can go from there,” he added.
Vance also spoke to CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday, where host Margaret Brennan grilled him about Trump’s claim that the majority of voters don’t really care about who their running mate is.
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“The fact is, I think President Trump is right. I think most people are voting for either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris,” Vance said. “I think the fact is, most people are voting based on the presidential candidate, not the vice presidential candidate. That’s simply a political reality. I think Donald Trump is right.”
Walz did not appear on television Sunday, in keeping with the Harris campaign’s refusal to speak to reporters. (Andrew Harnick)
Vance appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union” with host Jake Tapper and answered many of the same questions.
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Meanwhile, Walz was nowhere to be seen on the major networks on Sunday, his absence part of a consistent theme in the Harris campaign’s struggle with media transparency.
Harris herself has not given a formal interview or press conference in weeks, despite being the Democratic presidential nominee, though she has promised to do one “by the end of the month.”
